Three's a crowd
by FemaleSpock
Summary: Aarch abandoned Norata long before the ice-age. Norata-centric with hints of Aarch/Artegor.


Three's a crowd

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.**

Norata always expected things to stay the same, change always took him by surprise, and he certainly never did anything to bring it along. His big brother was different in that way, he sought change, always wanted to strive for something new. Aarch was 15 and determined to become a footballer. By default, Norata, only a year younger, wanted to be one also. He loved plants but he would follow his brother to the stars. Aarch was not just his brother; he was his best friend and his idol. They spent most of their time together; Norata had taken it for granted that it would always be like this, he didn't see change coming.

But change came; it came in the guise of Artegor Nexus.

Norata wasn't even paying attention when the teacher had led the new boy into the classroom. Aarch had told him that they were going to try out for the Akillian team next year, and so he wouldn't need to get good grades (he'd been a good student previously, and had skipped a year so he could be in the same class as Aarch). Aarch was certain they would get in and so Norata was too.

The teacher prodded the boy forward, and when he didn't speak, she introduced him as 'Artegor Nexus.' Norata glanced up at Artegor, and then looked back at the page on which he was doodling flowers. The new boy was uninteresting to him, he looked rich and not at all friendly. Not the sort of person Norata hung around with.

Norata didn't think he brother would like him either. It unsettled him when he glanced at his brother and saw him looking intently at this Artegor.

At lunch, Aarch invited Artegor to sit with them. He had accepted with a curt nod of the head and that was that. Norata didn't like Artegor's presence, his silence made him feel uneasy. Granted, he wasn't the most talkative of people himself, but he did offer his opinion to a conversation, should the opportunity arise. Had Norata paid a bit more attention, he would have realised that the reason he felt uneasy was that subconsciously, he knew it was all going to change.

Artegor became a constant presence in Aarch's life, and so he was in Norata's too. After that first time, he continued to sit at their lunch table. Aarch began to sit with him in every lesson. Artegor began to talk more, although usually to Aarch. Norata was shocked the first time Artegor had come over to their house. He'd grown almost used to the way he had taken over at school but he had never expected him to invade his home. Norata had gone and helped his father in the Greenhouse; he didn't feel welcome in his own house whilst Artegor was there.

His brother had always been outgoing and friendly, he could make friends with anyone, but it wasn't usually like this. Norata was Aarch's best friend, no others were as important, but Artegor had changed that. Aarch would spend more and more time with Artegor, forgetting completely that he had a brother. Norata tried to talk more to Aarch, tried to make it the same again, but it was no use.

Artegor started to come round more frequently. He and Aarch would just spend all their times, talking intensely about football and other things. It wasn't that Artegor was a nuisance or anything like that. Norata didn't have to see him that often, Aarch would always take Artegor up to the room that the brothers shared and then lock the door. Norata didn't know why Aarch had to do that. He wouldn't have gone in then anyway. He knew he wasn't welcome. He listened at the door a few times, out of curiosity. Sometime he heard nothing; he suspected that Aarch and Artegor were just sitting in silence, as if that counted as an activity. Other times he heard quiet talking, he could never make out much of what they said, but he could pick out key words such as 'football' and 'greatest.'

He stopped listening after a while, it was boring. He spent more time in the Greenhouse than ever before that year.

He'd made a few feeble attempts to try and get his brother back, before giving up. He had other friends, although not good ones, he spent time with them at school. Norata had joined the drama club, to try and improve his confidence, and he'd met a girl. Her name was Keira and he really liked her. After a month of knowing her, he'd managed to pluck up the courage to ask her out. To his delight, she said yes. Norata was happier then, he didn't need Aarch and his precious secrets.

And yet, Norata was still planning to try out for the football team. He was convinced that if he and Aarch got accepted that things would go back to the way they were. Aarch would be his brother again. He still didn't quite understand why Aarch had decided to become best friends with Artegor. Artegor wasn't like any of Aarch's other friends; he wasn't easy-going and fun. Apart from a shared love of football, Norata couldn't see anything that they had in common. Norata had asked Aarch why he was friends with Artegor, once. Aarch had just shrugged and said that friendship was one of those things you couldn't explain. And that was that.

All three of them had got onto the Akillian team. Contrary to Norata's hopes, things got worse from then on.

They'd all moved into club accommodation. Aarch and Artegor were in a room together, and Norata was put with another boy on the team. He saw his brother on the pitch and in the team common room, but apart from that, he barely spoke to him. Norata married Keira at 16, he wasn't sure he would have done that if he hadn't been so lonely. He'd loved her, but he had been too young, too immature, for marriage. Keira had announced soon after their marriage that she was pregnant. He'd been happy when Rocket had been born; he finally had his own family.

Then the ice-age came and everything changed again.

Norata lost his leg, but more importantly, he lost his wife. And Aarch ran off with Artegor to the Shadows to play on the team there. All three left to follow their dreams; they left Norata behind to just carry on living. Norata became a florist and looked after Rocket the best he could; there was nothing else he could do. He grew to resent Aarch, for abandoning him, just like everyone else.

When the news came that Aarch had moved to Wamba and left Artegor to the Shadows, Norata wasn't surprised. Aarch got bored staying the same for too long. Norata didn't dwell on it; he just turned the TV off and got back to his flowers. He'd long ceased caring. He didn't even consider Aarch his brother anymore.

**And that's it. I hope that it came out okay, please review to tell me what you think!**


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